Stroke victims must get to the hospital within three hours after symptoms begin, or current treatments may not help. However, a new study shows treatment with the antibiotic minocycline may extend the time for effective therapy from three to as many as twenty-four hours.
Minocycline, which is a derivative of tetracycline, has already been shown to have a protective effect in animal models of multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Huntingdon’s disease, and also ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclersosis). The benefit of minocycline is thought to come not from its antibiotic action but from its anti-inflammatory effects.
The research showed that treatment with minocycline could be started from 6 to 24 hours after the onset of stroke, extending the window of treatment to a full day. In the evaluator-blind study, 200 mg of minocycline or a placebo were given orally for five days. When minocycline was administered, study author Yair Lampl, MD, of Tel Aviv University in Israel, said, “The improvement was already apparent within a week of the stroke.”
Experts said a large-scale study will be needed to “definitively prove” the benefits of the antibiotic for stroke victims.
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